After the Sky Screen Spoiled Everything, the Whole World Begged Me to Be Empress

New story: The Day Li Shimin Became the Crown Prince of Emperor Wu of Han. Coming soon: The Sky Screen Spoils the Future, So I Pretend to Be Er Feng and Save the Anshi Rebellion.

Other completed stories in the same vein: The Sky Screen Tells Empress Wu I'm Rebelling; The Sky Screen Tells Li Shimin I'm Rebelling During the Zhenguan Era.

Xie Wan went from the lowest-ranking palace maid in the Ye Ting to Noble Consort. After the old emperor died, her young son ascended the throne.

Once she dealt with the civil officials who accused her of usurping power as a woman, she could become the Empress Dowager, wielding authority from behind the curtain.

Then the sky screen suddenly appeared.

[Today, I'll introduce the most powerful woman in history, who controlled the court for more than forty years and remains one of the most controversial figures: Empress Dowager Xie, posthumously known as Wenzhao!]

[Some praise her for discovering countless ministers of great ability, expanding the borders, advancing technology, improving farming tools, and introducing high-yield crops...]

[Yet many others call her a disastrous seductress who bewitched the founding emperor and destabilized the succession. They say the high-yield crops and new inventions she brought back from overseas were really part of her quest for immortality. They say she recruited talented people because she was lustful and happened to pick out useful men. And as for expanding the borders, they call it warmongering that squandered the people's labor...]

The conservative officials who had already denounced Xie Wan for usurping power as a woman were overjoyed. The sky screen must have sent them a warning in advance so they could stop a woman from ruling!

Xie Wan sneered. She hadn't even settled accounts with them yet, and they still dared to come after her! Fine, she had been meaning to deal with them anyway.

But before she could act, an impassioned woman's voice rang out from the sky screen.

[There are too many mists obscuring history. Fortunately, archaeological discoveries have uncovered a wealth of firsthand sources about Empress Dowager Xie, allowing us to see the real woman. She possessed the governing talent of history's greatest emperors. Her personal charisma drew capable people from all over the realm to her side, and she led the Great Sheng dynasty into a true golden age.]

[Her only mistake was letting herself be constrained by feudal thinking. If she was going to be criticized either way, she might as well ascend the throne and become an empress in her own right. After all, she was the one who had protected the realm of Great Sheng and led it to its height.]

At that moment, the cries of the people outside the palace gates rang up to the sky.

"We beg Empress Dowager Xie to ascend the throne and usher in a golden age! We just want to live in peace!"

Xie Wan smiled. If that was what they wanted, she would graciously accept. At last, she could wear the dragon robe she had secretly ordered to be made.

1. The female lead is a native of this world, but she meets transmigrators who know some things about the future. This also gives her a golden finger for infrastructure development.

2. The female lead isn't entirely good. There is a romance, but not much of one, and this isn't pure love.

3. In the original history, a butterfly effect occurred after the Eastern Han, sending events down another branch. This story is now set roughly during the Northern Zhou and Sui period.

4. This is just for fun, so don't take it seriously.

Blurb for the new story, The Day Li Shimin Became the Crown Prince of Emperor Wu of Han

Li Shimin died and came back to life, only to be bound by something called the System and sent to the Western Han. He became Liu Ju, the deposed crown prince of Emperor Wu of Han. The System told him to change Liu Ju's tragic fate and earn Emperor Wu's praise as "a man after my own heart."

Li Shimin was furious. "You want Me to become the son of a wastrel who spent more than thirty years fighting, exhausted the people and the country, and gained little? And I have to get him to say I'm like him? I refuse!"

System: "If you complete the task, you can return to the Tang dynasty and save your wife and daughters from dying young, and change the tragedy of your sons rebelling against one another for the throne!"

Li Shimin: "...For my family, I'll put up with it!"

But the proud Heavenly Strategist General was never going to put up with anything. The next time he saw Emperor Wu draining the treasury to fight the Xiongnu, Li Shimin couldn't help crying as he pleaded with him.

"The people are suffering, Father. You should wage fewer wars and focus on their well-being!"

Liu Che looked at the crown prince, who had been kindhearted from childhood and often wept at the sight of the people's hardship, and sighed.

"It seems the crown prince dislikes war. He's not like Me!"

System: "It's over! I told you not to try to talk him out of it. Now you're not like him again!"

But then the guards came in one after another with urgent reports.

"Your Majesty, the crown prince is missing!"

Liu Che: "Could the crown prince disapprove of My campaign against the Xiongnu and be threatening Me by disappearing?"

"Disaster! The crown prince has appeared on the battlefield against the Xiongnu, alongside Generals Wei and Huo!"

Liu Che: "Did the crown prince go to stop the Han from fighting the Xiongnu? Does he hate war that much?"

"Disaster! The crown prince has taken eight thousand soldiers deep into Xiongnu territory to ambush the Xiongnu Chanyu!"

Liu Che: "Was the crown prince so hurt by My saying he wasn't like Me that he would do something this dangerous?"

"Your Majesty, the crown prince has captured the Great Chanyu of the Xiongnu alive. He says he'll escort him back to Chang'an to dance for You. However..."

Liu Che was delighted. He had no idea how the crown prince had managed it, but the boy really was his son!

Then he asked, "However what?"

The guard answered nervously, "The crown prince asked me to tell Your Majesty, 'I meant that Father was too slow in the earlier campaigns. The Han should subdue the Xiongnu as quickly as possible, at the lowest possible cost, to bring peace to the realm and give the people a chance to recover.'"

Liu Che was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Hahahaha! That arrogant confidence, that conviction that he's the greatest, really is just like Me!"

System: "It can work like that?"

Theme: When you have the means, help the whole world.